5 Smooth Stones

the Messiah? “Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel.” (Isaiah 7:14). This prophecy was given over 600 years before it came to pass, so how would someone judge it for accuracy? Of course the credibility of the minister himself would come into play, and it must be judged against scripture. Any word which contradicts scripture should be rejected, but there are many things that can be prophesied that will not contradict scripture and yet must be discerned to be true or false. One failsafe that scripture gives us is for the prophetic to be judged by others who are called to the prophetic ministry or have a mature gift. 1 Corinthians 14:29 “Let two or three prophets speak, and let the others judge. 30 But if anything is revealed to another who sits by, let the fi rst keep silent. 31 For you can all prophesy one by one, that all may learn and all may be encouraged. 32 And the spirits of the prophets are subject to the prophets. 33 For God is not the author of confusion but of peace, as in all the churches of the saints." When the apostle Paul said, “let the prophets speak, and let the others judge” he used the Greek word allos for our word “other.” There was another option for our word “other,” that being the Greek word heteros . The di ff erence, which is clear in Greek, and is not obvious in English, is that allos means “other of the same kind” and heteros means “other of a di ff erent kind.” We get our word heterosexual, meaning “sexual orientation to persons of the opposite sex” from this word. Allos means “other of the same category” (Vine's Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words, “allos expresses a numerical di ff erence and denotes another of the same sort”). So when Paul said to let others of the same kind judge the prophetic word, it was clear he meant other prophets, who would be expected to have spiritual discernment and prophetic insight. Another reason for a prophet to judge other prophets’ words is that each knows in part and prophesies in part and by allowing others of the same kind to judge, they may be able to bring more information or light to the word, which would increase the understanding of what the Spirit is saying. The New Testament prophetic ministry is part of a team. New Testament prophetic ministry sees in part and prophesies in part. This is another reason why it is necessary for the prophetic to be part of a team or company and not fall into the stereotypical lone ranger type mentality. This is not to say that the ability or resolve to stand alone if necessary is not an admirable and necessary part of the prophetic ministry. In fact, all Christians should realize that they may be tested in their convictions and should be able to stand against adversity with the Lord alone if necessary. 89